The Women

Hasn't it been a while? Thank you for sticking around. I want to tell you today about one of the more unique aspects of my YAV work this year, which has been volunteering with Central American refugees at what we call "the Casa". It's gonna be a lot of 'splainin.

Lupita

Octavio Paz once wrote that Mexicans will believe in only two things: the lottery, and the Virgin of Guadalupe. In San Antonio, her images are prolific. 

La Virgen as seen in Linda's Mexican Restaurant

Activism in Art, from the Eastside

I got lost in the Eastside once on the way downtown, but I found some interesting work near the Southwest Worker's Union.

Addendum on color and culture

In an earlier post, I wrote a little about how race, class, and culture influence perceptions of color (as in, that of paint and dye, not skin). Since then I rediscovered one of the original articles that influenced my thought on the subject:

Color, Chromophobia, and Colonialism: Some Historical Thoughts by Carolyn Purnell for Apartment Therapy. I first encountered this piece when it was shared at Medieval POC: People of Color in European Art History, an excellent and informative blog I recommend visiting.

Caro

The Press

El Placazo celebrates its 200th issue.

My workplace publishes a newspaper, as you know, and one of my recent tasks was to sift through back issues from 1994-2012 in search of notable articles to include in our 200th edition. In doing so I learned a lot about the newspaper and the organization itself, some of which I wanted to share with you.

Guide for New YAVs

From our camping trip to Guadalupe River State Park.

At the beginning of this year I spent some time scouring the blogs of the '13-'14 Boston and San Antonio YAVs, hoping for some insight into which placement would suit me best and searching for what to expect during a YAV year. With that in mind, I wanted to write a short guide to San Antonio YAV life for applicants considering a placement here, so that you might have a better idea of what this placement looks like.

Saint Anthony at Christmastime

Merry Christmas from San Anto Cultural Arts! Our boss' wife Sylvia made these ornaments of murals and El Placazos.